‘Another sad day’ in NBA owner-player talks ends with ultimatum offer from league

Based on Twitter feeds from the media on the scene in midtown Manhattan after a long negotiating session between NBA owners and players, the result of the talks was an NBA ultimatum to the players: Accept the most recent offer we have put on the table by Wednesday or watch it get significantly worse thereafter.

Commissioner David Stern told reporters on the scene — this posting is based on feeds from CBS Sportsline’s Ken Berger, Yahoo!Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner and others — that the league had proposed giving the players a split of basketball related revenue in a “band” that ranges from 49 to 51 percent, based on projected revenues. If actual revenue exceeds projections, players could receive as much as 61 percnet; if lower than expected, they could get as little as 49.

The offer also addressed some system issues, mostly related to the ability of luxury tax paying teams to use mid-level exceptions and participate in sign-and-trade deals.

Should the players reject the offer, Stern said the league’s offer would drop to 47 percent of revenue for the players.

Calling it “another sad day,” union president Derek Fisher told reporters at a press conference the union had rejected the deal.

No additional talks have been scheduled, Fisher saying, “I’m not sure when or why we’d meet again.

“We’ve been given the ultimatum and our answer is that’s not acceptable to us,” Fisher said.

“We did not get sense they wanted to close this out tonight. We were prepared to stay here until the sun came up to get this deal done.”

Stern said he hoped the players would accept the offer, given the additional time to consider the conseqences of rejection. Based on Fisher’s reaction, that seems unlikely.

More likely: Momentum for a player-driven move to decertify the union to enable an anti-trust suit against the league. Yahoo!Sports’ Wojnarowski reported that player agents are actively canvassing their clients to see if there is enough support to seek a decertification vote.

Should the required 30 percent of the union’s membership sign a petition to seek a decertification vote, the vote could not be scheduled for 45 days, per rules of the National Labor Relations Board. Talks between the two sides could continued during that 45-day period, with added pressure on the league to improve the offer Stern insists will get worse after Wednesday.